No, musically there was really nothing to be desired at this edition of Rock Werchter. Top concerts by Tamino, Iggy Pop, Fred Again.. and Red Hot Chili Peppers were the tip of the iceberg. But the spontaneity and freedom that are so essential for a summer festival were sometimes hard to find. Especially in a crowded Barn tent.
Ewoud CeulemansJuly 2, 2023, 6:04 PM
Iggy Pop. Fred again… Sigur Ros. Charlotte White. Editors. Five of the many master shows that provided this Rock Werchter with an immense portion of quality. But also five sources of frustration, with an at times huge number of festival goers. The reason? They couldn’t be there. All those concerts took place in The Barn, the ‘second’ stage on Werchter’s meadow. It is a tent of Sportpaleis proportions, with a capacity of 20,000 people. But 20,000 people turned out to be far too little for many acts.
Charlotte de Witte closed a festival day on the main stage of Pukkelpop last year. Iggy Pop is a living legend who, with ‘The Passenger’, ‘Lust for Life’ and the Stooges hit ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, could demolish any tent and flatten any meadow. And Editors, who had a subscription to the Main Stage until this year – no country where they can thrill so many fans as in Belgium.
Tamino.Image © Stefaan Temmerman
They are artists of a different caliber than the acts that were programmed in The Barn last year. Then Polo G, Jamie xx, Moderat and The Kid Laroi were allowed to close the four days of Werchter in the second tent: with respect, these are not names that will immediately precede the race to become headliner.
West Flemish metal
At the same time, the enthusiasm of the Werchter audience was unbridled. Also for Ben Howard and the Belgian acts Warhaus, Blackwave. and Amenra – West Flemish metal turned out to be extremely popular – red crosses and the clear message ‘The Barn is full’ appeared on the screens above the entrance. “We monitor the occupation very closely,” the organization communicated on Saturday. “When full capacity is reached, we have to stop people.”
Understandable, too: nobody is waiting for a new Roskilde drama, and in 2007, in the then Marquee tent that was open along the sides, Beastie Boys had to stop their Werchter concert several times because people threatened to oppress each other.
Red crosses at The Barn: you are no longer allowed in.Image Pieter-Jan Vanstockstraeten / Photo News
However, it led to great frustrations for countless fans, and the extra screen that was placed outside The Barn was no more than a cloth for the bleeding. “You ask 300 euros for a ticket and camping and you don’t take so many people into account,” a festival-goer expressed his frustration to a Humo camera crew. “A stage for 20,000 festival goers if you sell tickets to 100,000 people: that’s stupid.”
Another visitor: “You wait an hour and a half. That’s not a festival. A festival is freedom, walking around, no frustration, being able to look everywhere and leave again. I have not seen Charlotte de Witte, Iggy Pop and now Fred again…” For Fred again.. our reviewer spoke to girls who had been standing in the same spot for three hours, with no breaks for drinks or food.
Dean Lewis. Image © Stefaan Temmerman
“We understand that fans are disappointed when the tent is closed. But we also want to be able to offer the best concert experience. The Barn has advantages and disadvantages and we are aware of that”, says Rock Werchter. “The positive reactions are very large in the majority.” Herman Schueremans responded to VRT that he and the tent builder are looking into whether the capacity can be increased next year, to 25,000 people.
Surplus headliners
Carefree hopping from one stage to another was not an option this year: you had better plan in advance which bands you can’t miss, and then get there in time. But it is true that devoted fans experienced the concerts in The Barn very consciously. It allowed Iggy Pop, Tamino and Fred again.. – purveyors of this year’s Werchter highlights – to emulate the intimacy and intensity of a hall show.
Because there was almost nothing to criticize about the music at the 48th edition of Rock Werchter. Not a single headliner was disappointed: Mumford & Sons turned out to be captivating enough to make Stromae forget for a moment and Red Hot Chili Peppers sounded, in the words of our reviewer, “tighter, hotter, better” than they have in a long time sounded. Perhaps there were simply too many headliners, considering the big names in The Barn.
The fact that Rock Werchter now has four stages also gives the programmers the opportunity to diversify somewhat. Admittedly, on the main stage the bill was rather white and masculine, but in Klub C Danielle Ponder, Gabriels and even Mongolian metal (courtesy of The Hu) came to make the most of it.
Kelsy Karter and The Heroines.Image Alex Vanhee
Striking the balance between big, trusted names (at the time of writing, Werchter subscribers Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys had to make an appearance) and smaller acts with a label to discover is no easy feat, but the expansion of The Slope to a fully-fledged fourth stage does offer the opportunity to program a new load of rock, punk and hardcore groups. You have to take Kelsy Karter for granted, but we saw great to excellent concerts by bands like Touché Amoré, PUP and The Reytons.
In an increasingly genre-infested festival landscape, Rock Werchter manages to keep its rock festival roots alive. Werchter’s meadow remains a regular stop for guitar bands on their summer tour, and in the meantime the number of potential headliners on the bill is increasing. The challenge will be to let as many people as possible enjoy those headliners. And we also think of these words from The Reytons singer Jonny Yerrell: “Who needs fucking Glastonbury?”
Fred again.. on Rock Werchter.Image Koen Keppens
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2023-07-02 16:04:14
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